Can anyone help with the lowest Tottenham attendance at White Hart Lane? And where does the 13,933 who watched Spurs beat Derby 5-2 on 12 March 1953 (a Thursday 3pm kick off I believe) rank? Not having much luck when searching on Google. Am writing a piece for the next issue of Derby County Memories which features the programme from this game.

Thanks for the replies, it doesn't look like the Derby fixture is anywhere near the lowest._________________www.derbycountymemories.co.uk - covers the history of the Rams through collectable items of memorabilia such as football programmes, tickets and books.

White Hart Lane has been used since the 1899-1900 season, and if you're looking at the lowest attendance since they've been there I assume it has to be the (rounded up) figure of just 1,000 vs West Ham on March 26th 1906. They were a Southern League club then, of course, but as lowest attenadances at the Lane go, that appears to be it for a first team game.

Spurs crowds during this season were affected by the Heysel Disaster in 1985 and the Tottenham Riots in October 1985. The lack of European football led to the Screen Sports Super Cup and on 5 Feb 1986 a crowd of 7,548 watched the home game v Everton. In fact crowds at all of the Top London clubs were affected in this season and average crowds were;
23k for arsenal whilst Spurs,Chelsea and West Ham were around 21k.

Thank you for all of the replies. Although the crowd was low for the Derby game, it doesn't seem like it is one of the lowest post-war attendances._________________www.derbycountymemories.co.uk - covers the history of the Rams through collectable items of memorabilia such as football programmes, tickets and books.

Football attendance figures throw up some curious facts.The last time Everton had an outstanding team in the 1980s, if you look at some of the games on youtube, there are lots of empty spaces in Goodison Park at some of the matches . Season 1983-84, Everton finished 7th in the League, runners - up in the League Cup and won the FA Cup.The average at Goodison that season was just 20, 000.This season they are bloody awful , yet the average attendance is close to 40,000.

Re Everton (and most clubs) - in the 80s you could always buy a terrace ticket and as long as you arrived early enough and didn't mind not moving, get a fairly good view

Nowadays with all seater stadiums, if you want a good position then a season ticket is a must, and 90% of seats at most Prem grounds (home sections) are sold to season ticket holders as a result, leaving non season ticket holders to get the worst views, behind pillars etc (well certainly so at Palace and Everton!)

Plus being a season ticket holder is pretty much a must if you want to buy away tickets, and also being a season ticket holder saves you money on the match by match cost

Dorking,, interesting points you make . Someone could get a good university disertation out of this! It would be interesting to see the season ticket sales figures for kids. Do the major clubs sell children's season tickets. .l get the impression that nowadays , lots of kids have never witnessed a live professional match. Why sell children's season tickets , at say Anfield ,where there is a massive waiting list for adult ones,, when you can get the full price for an adult one? I know at Tranmere before Christmas, they played Peterborough in an FA CUP replay ( £1 for children) and the place was packed out with kids. lnteresting stuff!

Another reason for low attendances will also be that there were some "dodgy figures" being reported at the time, definitely at Spurs and almost certainly elsewhere.
Most home games we would have a rough idea of what the crowd was and when reported it seldom seemed accurate.
One that sticks in the mind is an FA Cup tie v Newcastle in 1987.
We were packed in like sardines on the Shelf Side and when the gate was announced at 38.000 the crowd burst into laughter as it was so ridiculously out.

Back then you could pay on the gate and some turnstile operators would work on a "one for me, two for you" basis.
I had first hand knowledge of this at Wembley when a couple of my mates got in to the 1987 FA Cup Final with no ticket by bunging the bloke a tenner.
Obviously these would not show up on any attendance figures.

By the way Davee59. I was at that Everton Super Cup game and if I remember accurately it was snowing as well which would also have an impact on a competition that nobody cared about, although I did see Pat Jennings make his final Spurs appearance in it against Liverpool a few weeks before.

Five, 1950s,,60s,,70s lots of kids would be lifted over the turnstile for no extra cost to the adult. As you said, these would not have been recorded in attendance figures .l recall even at rock concerts false figures were recorded.The Who at Charlton 1974, official attendance 50, 000.The estimate was that 80, 000 were crammed in .l was there , it was pretty scary. Lots of cut heads from all the bottles flying about. Not very peaceful Hippies! Decided to give the open air rock shows a miss after that. Incidently the first time l ever saw skinheads at a game would have been Everton v Spurs , probably 1966?. Spurs fans ahead of the fashion trends there! I was at the Hendrix Isle of Wight 1970 performance and had very short hair .l remember some of the Hippies shouting skinhead at me. All very friendly though!

Thank you for all of the replies. Although the crowd was low for the Derby game, it doesn't seem like it is one of the lowest post-war attendances.

I am also needing the 19/4/54 v DRFC so might be rare? I know a West Ham v Rovers 1950's I own says the previous season's fixture attracted 4,000 so maybe London clubs didn't have the big gates we just assumed?